B-side "Crazy Eyes" Genre Easy listening Writer(s) Don McLean | Released October 1981 Label Millennium Producer(s) Larry Butler | |
"Castles in the Air" is a hit song by Don McLean. Originally recorded in 1970, it was his first American single release, preceding "American Pie". The original version of "Castles in the Air" was included on the Tapestry album. In February 1971, it was released as the first single from the album and reached number 40 on the Billboard Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary chart. After the success of the "American Pie" single, "Castles in the Air" was included as the B-side to its follow-up, "Vincent", and received enough radio airplay to reach the Hot 100 chart as a "flip".
In 1981, McLean re-recorded and re-released "Castles in the Air". The new version of the song, a slower ballad version of the more mid to uptempo version of the original, first appeared on his album Believers, and later replaced the original version on some copies of Tapestry. The new rendition was more successful, becoming a Top 40 hit in the US (No. 36 Billboard and No. 31 Cash Box), and reaching No. 11 in Australia. It was also a top 10 hit on the Adult Contemporary charts of both the US (No. 7) and Canada (No. 2). "Castles in the Air" became McLean's final pop hit before his genre shift to Country music in the mid-1980s.
The song describes a man who is unsatisfied with and weary of an urban lifestyle. Although native to the city, he decides to forsake not only his urban 'castle in the air' but also his love interest there. Because of his desire for and love of a country life, he decides to seek romance with a likeminded woman.